I never bought Adam Curry’s theory that we were still in a seemingly unwinable war despite Obama’s pledge to get us out because the CIA wanted to make money off Afghan poppies like it did with other wars and their well documented (Air America, anyone?) drug running. This makes a lot more sense.
The United States has discovered nearly $1 trillion in untapped mineral deposits in Afghanistan, far beyond any previously known reserves and enough to fundamentally alter the Afghan economy and perhaps the Afghan war itself, according to senior American government officials.
The previously unknown deposits — including huge veins of iron, copper, cobalt, gold and critical industrial metals like lithium — are so big and include so many minerals that are essential to modern industry that Afghanistan could eventually be transformed into one of the most important mining centers in the world, the United States officials believe.
An internal Pentagon memo, for example, states that Afghanistan could become the “Saudi Arabia of lithium,” a key raw material in the manufacture of batteries for laptops and BlackBerrys.
The vast scale of Afghanistan’s mineral wealth was discovered by a small team of Pentagon officials and American geologists. The Afghan government and President Hamid Karzai were recently briefed, American officials said.
While it could take many years to develop a mining industry, the potential is so great that officials and executives in the industry believe it could attract heavy investment even before mines are profitable, providing the possibility of jobs that could distract from generations of war.
UPDATE: Seems some of our commenters are more on the ball than the author of the original article in honor of whom we bestow the coveted:
btw, not sure how many people know this. but the radioactive isotopes in Lithium can also be used in things like the “Hydrogen” bomb.
If materials sell for a single price on a commodities market, a mining company’s profits are made by reducing the upstream – an oil term – costs; that being drilling, and other work before refining. So, the mining interests need to do this work in the lowest cost areas. In other words, buy low and sell high.
China won the Anyak copper mine project, one of the largest undeveloped copper sites in the world, about 20 miles from Kabul, a few years ago. #1 is partially right. Chinese rail projects are involved in Afghanistan and Pakistan. China is also building a rail ring in Afghanistan to connect to other asian lines. The same Chinese concern as Anyak is developing copper in Pakistan. At Anyak, the Chinese are supposedly to build hospitals, housing and schools for Afghan workers and families; develop electric power for the mine and Kabul; and build a rail system for the copper into Pakistan and then through to China.
A South African businessman commented in Fast Company that Chinese interests could set up an alternative commdities market.
What reasonably sized country doesn’t have at least $1 trillion in resources?
Obama promised to get out of Iraq and won the election. However, he was not going to do that anytime soon until some phone Iraq government enacted an oil law that gave foreign oil producers or their stooges full control.
After winning the election, Obama wanted to push more troops to Afghanistan for a variety of reasons. Opium trade, which gives CIA, Iran and Britain slush money is just one of the reasons. Just as oil was just one of the reasons for invaiding Iraq.
That Afghanistan had a lot of minerals is old news. There is a Bloomberg article from 2001 titled “Afghanistan Resources Include Untold Wealth: War stymies search for copper, jewels” that says the same things. Check the link.
Geological surveys of the Afghanistan have been done all the time. On the ground, the Soviets did. The same surveys can be done from satellites. A lot of countries were always in the know of the potential of Afghanistan.
The world wars were started to get hold of Middle East oil. The Ottoman empire was divided and a whole new crop were created out of it. Saudi Arabia was just given away to a friendly tribe that pays tribute to masters in London.
From Page two of the original posted link:
“In 2004, American geologists, sent to Afghanistan as part of a broader reconstruction effort, stumbled across an intriguing series of old charts and data at the library of the Afghan Geological Survey in Kabul that hinted at major mineral deposits in the country. They soon learned that the data had been collected by Soviet mining experts during the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan in the 1980s, but cast aside when the Soviets withdrew in 1989.”
Seems like the only thing we learn when studying history is that no body learns from studying history.
Well I always knew that both the Kuwait and Iraq wars were really about Oil. A mineral wealth. And then, by shear coincidence, the war has moved onto Afghanistan. And after it seems like the reason for it is winding down, it’s revealed that another mineral wealth was recently discovered. I’m thinking that this was known for quite some time. Probably detected by satellites in space. Or some Space Shuttle mission. Or perhaps something much lower tech. Like locals trading the odd piece of ore, to military scouts, years earlier.
Yeah, I’m thinking there could have been a long term plan for guiding the terrorists into Afghanistan, by making it the only place relatively safe for them to hid. And then NATO destabilizes and militarily occupy the crap out of the place, so it’s less likely to hog all that mineral wealth for itself. Or hand it over to the Chinese.
Ya know when you look at the country, it doesn’t strike me that anyone there works hard enough to make anything of the place. No big cities, no highways, no large scale water workers or electrical power systems. It mainly just small scale agriculture. And to a sizable degree, that’s opium harvesting. So it highly unlikely the natives are going to turn prospectors. And start mining for whatever. If it doesn’t involve goats or poppies, forget it. Hollowing out whole mountains, in comfortable frocks, turbans and sandals, with a labor force who prays five times a day (assuming they’re Muslim), isn’t very likely.
Why do I suspect that this will be yet another business opportunity for Halliburton?
From the linked article at The Atlantic:
“Jonathan Landay of McClatchy was on to the geopolitical importance of Afghanistan’s mineral reserves in 2009, writing that China’s thirst for coal might be the key to regional stabilization.
Already, there are accusations that the REAL reason the US is in Afghanistan is because WE want to exploit those mines. That’s a passable but facile interpretation of what’s going on here.”
A facile interpretation? Or just another part of the real reason we’re there?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trans-Afghanistan_Pipeline
When I get me to Afgannystan, I’m gunna get me a big tub an fill it full of colbalt an copper an lithyum an stuf an then just get down in that tub an waller around.
The Question still baffels me. Why are we in Afganistan. Does anyone really know? I only remember loving the blowing up of the terrorist training camps of the Taliban during early 9-11. The necessity of occupation there is what, important?. How bout a national vote on wether or not we stay in Iraq or Afganistan? Or is that not “The Peoples” call. Government of the congress for the congress by the congress. Because lets face facts. Were a bunch of lucky Americans that our Government, no matter what we say knows whats best…Thank God for the interventions in those matters.
FUCKKKKKKK!!!!!!!!!!